Responding to reports that the London Mayor is to introduce Pedestrian Countdown in London, Jenny Jones said:
"I welcome the introduction of Pedestrian Countdown as long as it is not used as an excuse to speed up car traffic at the expense of people crossing the road. There should be no reduction in the frequency of pedestrian phases, so that people have to wait longer to cross. Nor should there be any significant reduction in the buffer between the pedestrian green phase and the car traffic being allowed to move off.
"The London Mayor should be focusing on giving Londoners more time to cross the road at the hundreds of junctions where our lights don’t meet national guidelines. The less agile Londoners and people with children, should not be expected to sprint across the road. Pensioners in London are not necessarily fitter than ones in Birmingham or Manchester. The Mayor will have a tricky job speeding up the flow of traffic whilst protecting these vulnerable road users."
Notes to editors
1) 48 / 2009 January 09 Traffic lights (2) Jenny Jones
How many of the pedestrian phases not meeting Department for Transport guidelines have been corrected to bring them into line with the guidelines since May 2008? Is Transport for London still on track to meet the deadline for all pedestrian signals meeting DfT guidelines by 2010 at the latest?
Transport for London answered
In February 2008, TfL identified 407 junctions in London that did not meet current DfT guidelines and undertook to upgrade these by 2010. TfL remains on track to achieve this. To date, 162 of these sites have been upgraded, with 96 completed since 1 April 2008.